Tag Archives: home

I didn’t realize my mattress sucked until someone else slept on it and informed me it sucked. I had acclimated to the suck. I didn’t understand that this too soft, busted-ass, brokedown mattress was contributing to chronic pain I’ve been enduring. While I wanted a new bed desperately, shopping for mattresses isn’t fun. I don’t want to lie down where all those people have lied down before me. I can’t actually get in my sleep position because it’s so weird, so I just lay there like a corpse staring at the ceiling reassuring the solicitous sales guy that it indeed “feels great.” I’d rather avoid this undignified scene at the mattress shop. I recall when I stayed with my friend AMP for Pitchfork her guest bed was amazing. She purchased through Overstock and was quite happy with the transaction. I didn’t do a ton of online recon. I just ordered a competitvely priced fatty 14″ from Overstock. My queen arrived vacuum sealed in a box and expanded when I opened the packaging. It’s firm, but giving, quiet and cool. When I slept on my old mattress, I woke up with numb arms. I’ve experienced no more numb arm nonsense with my new bed. I’m sleeping so well now. I wish I’d done this sooner.

I enjoy a houseplant. I just recently repotted a few that had outgrown their containers and it tickled me to no end. I tell you, it’s the little things.

Folks spend a fortune on fancy air purifying systems. We buy low VOC paint. Parents work to eliminate every microbe and allergen from their child’s room. We make things too complicated. A few scattered houseplants will purify the air while producing oxygen. Some plants are better at cleaning the indoor air than others, but mercifully these inexpensive and widely available varieties grow easily.

I hate you IKEA because you smell funny. I blame the restaurant. The Swedes are not known for their cuisine. A fellow patron spilled one of those ligonberry drinks and I watched as it penetrated the polished concrete floor like battery acid. I want to throw a Swedish meatball at your stadium-sized head IKEA. I hate you IKEA because you seduce me with your displays. While walking through the showroom, it all looks like Oz. When your resolve has weakened and you are ready to drop your panties for that $199 dresser, follow the yellow brick road down to the warehouse and pull back the curtain to find a sea of gray, bleak cardboard, and overwhelming confusion stacked from floor to ceiling. I hate you IKEA because you are still the most affordable option for semi-stylish home furnishings. What makes IKEA a hassle is what makes IKEA cheap. I hate you IKEA because you make your employees wear the ugliest shirts ever made. Are you furniture referees? Lemme get you a whistle and maybe you can wrangle some of these deranged children out of the way.I hate you IKEA because you assign homework. I have to put this thing together now? My friend Trish hired some dude off Craigslist to put all her IKEA furniture together – assembling shitty pre-fab furniture is a cottage industry. Skills for life, people. Skills for life.

Some of the filthiest and most difficult areas to clean are the bends, folds, and bolts of the toilet. I confess, I hate cleaning this area so much. It feels like no matter how many times I go over it, I uncover more dust, dirt, hair, and grime. Why is it a harbor for mystery pubes? So gross. Truly, it is one of my most despised cleaning tasks. When I remodeled recently, I opted for a smooth-sided toilet. The shape eliminates all those little areas where disgusting funk collects. With this style commode, a good once or twice over and the gunk is gone. Smooth-sided toilets are a skosh more expensive than the cheapest entry-level traditional style thrones, but how many toilets are you going to buy in your life? When considering the number of times you will perch here as well as the frequent cleanings, it makes sense to spring for the modern smooth-sided one piece.

Read my own tarot and then ignore the outcome to my own worst detriment. Spend more money on fancy facial treatments than I do on health insurance. Yell at people for things that aren’t my business and I don’t really care about.

Seriously consider purchasing a house you can only access by a treacherous and steep hiking path up a mountain. For real.

After some healthy snowfall, I stayed in today and spent several hours organizing. As much as staring at a heap of clutter induces anxiety, cleaning up the mess feels equally, if not more, stress relieving.Today I focused on the office. To the extent I can, I try and go paperless, for the trees and to reduce the management of physical paperwork. However, one cannot transact all biz electronically. Set up a home filing system so you have a place to put the records that must be kept. Deal with paper as it comes in by sorting it into categories for recycling, shredding, requiring action, and filing. Invest in a filing cabinet. Document storage furniture can be pricey new, but there are always an abundance of options on craigslist and 2nd hand stores that are more economical. If you do want to spring for a new one, these from CB2 are pretty enjoyable.

I’ve been meeting with professionals to consult on a building project. Even though I’m at the very beginning of the process, talking to these narrow-minded folks is frustrating. When I tell them the intended budget – which I assure you is not wildly unrealistic, they look at me like I’m morphing into a giant blueberry. One of the main goals of the project is to use reclaimed, recycled, and locally sourced materials. We don’t want to kill anything to build the structure. Waste is plentiful in this world, so why not literally build something constructive out it? I’d like to gently remind the condescending experts that sustainably can function, and it can do so economically. Every home in this collection of photos is made from majority reclaimed, recycled, or repurposed materials. So it can be done. The challenge is finding the genius with the skills to effectively execute the vision and the creativity to inexpensively source materials. Not all of these dwellings may appeal to your personal taste, but you have to tip your hat to the ingenuity and resourcefulness that went in to constructing them.